Burt Lancaster and he did not get along during the shoot of The Professionals (1966) due to that fact that Marvin's bottoming-out alcoholism was making him unreliable and difficult at the time. Director Richard Brooks felt the need to intervene because he feared Lancaster was going to "take Lee Marvin by the ass and throw him off that mountain".
John Boorman original wanted Marvin and Marlon Brando to play Ed and Lewis, respectively, in Deliverance (1972). But Marvin suggested that he and Brando were too old and that Boorman should use younger actors.
Jean Seberg likened his singing voice to "rain gurgling down a rusty pipe.".
Jeff Bridges has said that it was seeing Marvin and Robert Ryan at work in The Iceman Cometh (1973) that made him decide to fully commit to acting. He found that Marvin and Ryan, despite their obvious tough-guy persona's, were unusually kind and giving actors.
At the time of his death from a sudden heart attack, Marvin had been hospitalized at Tucson Medical Center in Arizona since 13 August 1987 with what his spokesman described as "a run-down condition related to the flu".
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 611-613. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.
Bonded with co-star Vivien Leigh on the set of Ship of Fools (1965). When he and his partner Michelle Triola visited Leigh at her exquisite home in England, he tore up a deck of antique playing cards that they were playing with. Much to Triola's surprise, Leigh was not at all disturbed by Marvin's boorish behavior but seemed enchanted by him.
Could not ride a motorcycle at the time The Wild One (1953) was filmed but, determined not to be bettered by the star, Marlon Brando, he quickly learned. He later became a keen competitor on his Triumph 200cc Tiger Cub in desert races.
Daughter Claudia born 1958.
Daughter Courtenay born 1954.
Daughter Cynthia born 1956.
He did not receive any offers at all for a year after "M Squad" (1957) finished, and fell into a deep depression.
He supported Eugene McCarthy in the 1968 Democratic primaries, and voted for George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election.
He was one of the first Hollywood celebrities to declare his support for the gay rights movement, in his Playboy interview from January 1969. He further stated that he would have no problem playing gay characters on screen, since he was secure with his own sexual orientation.
His body was interred next to that of Joe Louis in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.
In 1975 he left Hollywood and moved to Tucson.
In December 1986, Marvin underwent intestinal surgery after suffering abdominal pains while at his ranch outside of Tucson. Doctors said then that there was an inflammation of the colon, but that no malignancy was found.
Lived with Michelle Triola for six years. In 1977 she sued him for palimony and the case went to trial. On 18 April 1979, Judge Arthur K. Marshall ordered Marvin to pay $104,000 to Triola for "rehabilitation purposes", but denied her community property claim for one-half of the $3.6 million which Marvin had earned during their six years of cohabitation. Both sides claimed victory, but in August 1981, the California Court of Appeal ruled that Triola could not show any contract between herself and Marvin to justify any payment to her. As a result, Triola recovered no money from Marvin.
Marvin hated his most famous film The Dirty Dozen (1967), which he made only for the money and said was nothing like the actual war. He much preferred Hell in the Pacific (1968) and The Big Red One (1980), both of which reflected his strong anti-war feelings.
Marvin was a close personal friend of the legendary character actor Robert Ryan. They did several films together, and both served in the Marine Corps in World War Two. The pair were set to star in The Wild Bunch (1969), but Marvin had several heated arguments with director Sam Peckinpah and left the project. Ryan was no fan of Peckinpah himself, but stayed on the film. Ryan and Marvin were favorites of maverick director Samuel Fuller - also a close friend of both.